Latics reach crisis point

Photo: Tom Pickles

DEJECTION . . . Dave Penney cannot disguise his feelings as his Athletic side suffer their eighth home defeat of the season.

Worst home turn-out for 25 years sees latest blow to survival hopes

UNDER-FIRE Athletic boss Dave Penney felt his side should have kicked on after opening the scoring against Brentford last night.

Pawel Abott’s brilliant turn and strike midway through the first half arrived on the back of a positive opening from Athletic at a sparsely-populated Boundary Park.

But Athletic crumbled to a 3-2 loss, an eighth home defeat of the season which leaves them in severe trouble near the bottom of Coca-Cola League One.

Athletic remain 19th in the table, but have only one game in hand over the majority of the teams around them.

“What we were looking for was a reaction from the players after the Brighton game,” said Penney, whose own position as manager was again vocally challenged by sections of the 2,833 crowd, the lowest home league gate since April 27, 1985, when only 2,628 watched a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

He added: “We had a little bit of a rest and we wanted to come out of the blocks flying.

“We did that and got a goal – a great strike from Pawel Abbott – but then sat back, didn’t push on and didn’t really believe we could win the game. That was the disappointing thing about it.

“Then, inside 10 minutes in the second half, we conceded two poor goals from our point of view.

“We had a real good go at the end like we have been doing, got one back and then had a couple of chances. I’m afraid that has been the story of our season.”

Penney chose to start with 17-year-old Kirk Millar on the right wing and the youngster almost opened the scoring in the first minute, chesting down and firing a shot which visiting goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny could only parry.

The Athletic manager was pleased with his contribution, but admitted the defensive frailties which led to two of Brentford’s three goals have put more pressure on the team for the last nine matches of the season – starting with Gillingham’s visit to Boundary Park on Saturday.

Penney said: “Gillingham are a decent side and will be scrapping like us, so it will be a tough game.

“If we have the same work ethic and commitment the players gave here, then we will be ok.”